Bojidara Kouzmanova

Bojidara Kouzmanova started playing the violin in Sofia, at the age of five. Later on, she completed her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under Prof. Günther Pichler. She is the winner of many national and international violin competitions in Europe and USA, such as the Bela Bartok Competition (1996); Dobrin Petkov Violin Competition (1996); Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition, Great Britain (2000); Hudson Valley String Competition, USA (2000); the Alois Kottmann Grand Prix of the City of Frankfurt (2001). Laureate of the Honorary Prize of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (2005), among others. Bojidara has played as soloist to many different orchestras, such as the Brandenburger Symphoniker, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Montevideo Simphony Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra, Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Bach Soloists Vienna, the Kottmann String Players – Frankfurt, New Basel Symphony Orchestra, Recreation Orchestra Graz, and others. She also performs on a regular basis at various concerts and master classes all over Europe, North Africa, USA, Asia and Australia. Her discography comprises over fifteen compact-discs, recorded for various labels in USA, Bulgaria and Austria. Her first CD was recorded in 1996 with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Nayden Todorov, a performance of Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max Bruch. Her latest CD with Brahms Horn Trio and Brahms Violin Sonatas received the Pasticcio Prize of the OE1 National Radio of Austria. Her abiding passion are the different old and invaluable instruments she plays (more than 15 different Stradivarius and Guarneri Violins as well as violins by other violin makers), kindly provided to her by private sponsors. Many composers dedicated pieces to Kouzmanova: Perikles Liakakis – Tune for solo violin; Peter Richter - Bojidara Violin Concerto; Florian Meyer – Vienna Waltz Caprise; Julia Purgina – Frederick, a piece for solo violin; Sergio Navata – Tangara for Violin and Piano; Thomas Wally – a violin concerto titled “und ein einziger Ton weinte in einem Frühling!” ('Then a Single Sound Wept in a Single Spring!'); Manuela Kerer - PLAS for solo violin and ensemble; Roumen Dimitrov – Solo for Violin and Tango; Roland Freisitzer – Music for Violin and Three Instruments. One of her current recording projects is called En Suite, a joint performance with violist Julia Purgina of a combination of contemporary pieces composed especially for this project and Bach arrangements for two instruments. Bojidara is also a member of the Kreisler String Trio; Quasars Ensemble; Ensemble of the XX Century; Collage and Reconsil Ensemble, Vienna. For the past ten years, Ms. Kouzmanova teaches a violin class at the Bach Music School in Vienna. Since May 2017, she holds a position at the Vienna Music Academy. Currently she plays on a violin manufactured by Postiglione (1890), kindly placed at her disposal by a private sponsor.